MIRAH LANGER
So says Rabbi Lea Mühlstein, the chairperson of Arzenu Olami, the International Federation of Reform and Progressive Religious Zionists, who was in Johannesburg this week.
“[The fight for an egalitarian section] is an important symbolic movement, but we shouldn’t lose track of all the important developments, successes, and achievements that we have reached and can reach if we don’t say that we live or die by the Kotel,” says Mühlstein.
The progressive rabbi whose “day job” is serving her congregants at Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue in London, was in South Africa to meet her continental constituents from Arzenu Olami.
Mühlstein, who originally qualified and worked as a research chemist, offered various reflections on the political, social, and spiritual landscape of progressive Judaism.
On the significance of the Kotel, she says, “We have prayed for the centrality of Jerusalem as Jews through the centuries when we didn’t have access to Jerusalem. So, Jerusalem is much more than a physical place; it’s also a symbol within our tradition, and therefore it matters.”
She says the reason there isn’t yet a proper egalitarian section at the Kotel comes down to “realpolitik” – the Israeli government’s dependence on the ultra-Orthodox.
“Within the World Zionist Congress and the Jewish Agency, no one even debates anymore that this [the establishment of the egalitarian section] is the right position.”
If a unity government had been formed in the most recent Israeli elections, she believes the issue would already be resolved. Now, it will be a wait-and-see game as to what happens next on the political front.
But, the progressive community has learnt an important lesson for the future about its public handling of the issue, Mühlstein says.
Referring to the 2016 decision of the Israeli cabinet to approve a proposal to create an egalitarian Kotel section that would not be under the control of the Orthodox rabbinate, she says, “We made mistakes when we got that deal and celebrated too publicly, thus provoking too much of a public response [from communities opposed to the move].”
Nevertheless, asserts Mühlstein, it’s also important to recognise that when it comes to the official acceptance of progressive Jewry in Israel, “we have made huge advances”.
“For the past five or six years, reform rabbis have had access to government funding for their salaries. This is huge,” she says.
Moreover, these rabbis, like those from the Orthodox streams of Judaism, are now also running projects in partnership with the Israeli government.
The strides made in Israel are reflective of equally significant global shifts in the acceptance of progressive Judaism.
After all, notes Mühlstein, who comes from a German family who were at the forefront of establishing the progressive movement in their country in the 1990s, “people were still calling us non-Jews”.
Now, relations between Orthodox and progressive streams are much warmer and “very respectful”. She cites the example of a Holocaust teaching programme for non-Jewish schools that was jointly run by progressive and Orthodox communities in her area.
Asked to define what she understands to be the essence of progressive Judaism, Mühlstein suggests that it’s a worldview whereby you are “deeply committed to your Judaism, but also deeply committed to the society in which you live”.
“There is always this tension between the universal and the particular. For me, what being a progressive Jew is about is that we embrace universal values and give them our particularistic spin. We want to embrace the world as it is and with all its development, including technology,” she says.
“We want to say, ‘How can we make it part of our Judaism; how can we link that into the chain of our tradition, and still have our own authenticity within it?’”
Mühlstein says this viewpoint is sometimes misinterpreted as meaning that there are no boundaries to what is accepted within this religious stream.
“It’s not that there are no limits. For example, in my congregation, the choir uses iPads. Some of the congregants are getting older, and can’t hold two heavy books, one for music and the other for prayers, at the same time. So they use technology, but they put the iPads on airplane mode!”
She says the reality is that in many streams of Judaism, what was once seen as out of bounds has gradually become accepted.
She cites the example of how computers were once not accepted in haredi communities, yet now they are used extensively, as seen in the proliferation of ultra-Orthodox websites.
Musing on her own pathway to progressive Judaism, Mühlstein expresses deep gratitude for all facets of her journey of faith.
She recalls how she had the first Batmitzvah of the Munich progressive community in which she grew up. However, it occurred when she was 16, as before that, there was no rabbi.
Even her scientific university studies proved useful, being especially appreciated by her American-born husband, Josh.
“A chemistry degree is a fantastic life lesson for everything. My husband will tell you I am a plumber, an electrician, and an accountant! I still love science very much, it taught me many skills.”
Nevertheless, Mühlstein, who switched career paths after working for a while at a university, says she always knew she wanted to work with people.
“For me, the rabbinate was the perfect choice. You can reinvent your job every day. If you want to spend more time being scholarly or spiritual or political or cultural, you can!
“I would recommend it to everyone,” she smiles, before amending her suggestion to, “Study chemistry – then become a rabbi!”
